[Count Jackula]

Hello.

I am in the process of upgrading my computer at the moment. I have looked around for parts and asked on these forums for advice on hard-drives and graphics cards, but now that I'm so close to finalizing everything I've hit another snag.

I was going to buy an Athlon X2 4200 socket 939 along with 2GB Ram, 1950pro, new HDD and an Arctic cooler for the cpu (so I can overclock). However the 4200 is now out of stock and as socket 939 is outdated I don't think they are coming back in stock. Leaving me with two options:

1) I buy the best I can find, which is an X2 3800+. (Ive looked all over the place, dual core 939's are hard to get now)
2) I buy a new motherboard with AM2 socket and remake the whole damn thing.

Both options have their pro's and con's.

The first one means I can simply buy the cpu, and I'm ready to go. But will it be good enough for todays standards? I will overclock it, and hopefully with the fan it would be by a fair amount, but would it still be good enough?

* on a side note, there are two 3800's on Ebuyer.com. One is Manchester core and one is Toledo core. Does this make a difference? *

The second one means I will be more up to date, I can buy a better cpu and faster, cheaper RAM. But I will basicly have to start from scratch again and find all new components, and I also think this option will be more expensive.

I have a budget of about £250.

Currently my system is:

ASRock 939S56-M
Athlon 64 3200
7300gs
80GB HDD (almost full)
Not very big monitor with 1024x756 resolution.

My one big question really is would I be able to overclock an X2 3800 enough to make it decent? Or is it simply not powerful enough nowadays? I would like to be running DX9 games on full settings.

Oh and one more thing. My mobo takes PC3200 max speed RAM. And I cannot find any 1GB sticks of it anymore for a reasonable price. Think I would be ok with going 4x 512mb sticks?

[philthomas]

It's probably not what you want to hear, but I doubt you will notice much of an increase between your 3200 and a 3800 cpu.

If your budget is £250, why not consider a barebones system and get the most up-to-date spec you can afford, then either sell or salvage bits from your current system to get a decent graphics card, extra HDD etc.

Novatech do a decent range ..... see if something here appeals :

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/barebones.html

[Count Jackula]

My 3200 is single core, and the 3800 is dual core, and will also be overclocked.

I will take a look at the barebone systems. One problem is though that my parents use this computer aswell so i don't want to mess around with it too much.

*EDIT*

This one looks ok to me: http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/s...tml?BB-X24626M

If I do get that. Would I simply need to put my current HDD, buy the x1950pro and new HDD, put them in and I'm all set?

[Count Jackula]

Ok.

I've now come up with two options. (again)

1) Buy the barbones in the link and end up with:

Athlon X2 4600
2 GB 667Mhz RAM (unknown brand)
x1950pro
Current 80GB HDD
Another 80GB HDD
New case

Around £265.


Or: 2)

New motherboard, http://www.ebuyer.com/product/121169
2GB Crucial 667Mhz RAM
x1950pro
Current 80GB HDD
New 80GB HDD

Around £250

They are basicly the same except option two I know what the RAM is, I keep the same case and its cheaper. But it means buying all the parts separately.

[philthomas]

Originally Posted by Count Jackula My 3200 is single core, and the 3800 is dual core, and will also be overclocked. I will take a look at the barebone systems. One problem is though that my parents use this computer aswell so i don't want to mess around with it too much. *EDIT* This one looks ok to me: http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/s...tml?BB-X24626M If I do get that. Would I simply need to put my current HDD, buy the x1950pro and new HDD, put them in and I'm all set?

If you go for a new Barebones system, you can put your existing ATA drive in, but you will hit problems with drivers etc., if you try to use the Windows system that is currently installed ...... so a format & clean install would be your best option. If you are adding a new drive, it would be prudent to install the OS on this.The same will apply if you fit a new mobo to your existing box.

Also, as mentioned on your other thread, you can only have 2 ATA devices on the barebones system, as there is only 1 x ATA Controller, so if you add an existing ATA DVD-ROM Drive, any further drives HDD or Optical will need to be SATA.

[philthomas]

Originally Posted by Count Jackula Ok. I've now come up with two options. (again) 1) Buy the barbones in the link and end up with: Athlon X2 4600 2 GB 667Mhz RAM (unknown brand) x1950pro Current 80GB HDD Another 80GB HDD New case Around £265. Or: 2) New motherboard, http://www.ebuyer.com/product/121169 2GB Crucial 667Mhz RAM x1950pro Current 80GB HDD New 80GB HDD Around £250 They are basicly the same except option two I know what the RAM is, I keep the same case and its cheaper. But it means buying all the parts separately.

That has to be your call ..... but I'm sure if you email Novatech, they will tell you what RAM is used. They are a pretty good outfit, so I would be surprised if they were using inferior RAM.
One other advantage is the Barebones system is installed and tested

[Count Jackula]

Great cheers.

So, If i used a new HDD as the primary, I just connect it to the mobo and use the xp install cd right?

If I did this, can I just put my old HDD in the slave slot? will it cause problems as it has xp on it too? I dont want to wipe my old HDD, I'm keeping it as I want to keep all my files.

[philthomas]

If you are going for a new Barebones system ..... are you going to be using an existing ATA (IDE) DVD-ROM Drive ?, if so, you will only have one IDE connector left on the ribbon cable, so if you fit a new IDE HDD as a Master for your OS, that's it ..... you will have no room for another IDE HDD . That was the point I was making above. i.e. any new drive then (HDD or Optical) would need to be a SATA drive.

Tell me what drives you have already that you intend using and we can take it from there ;)

[Count Jackula]

The new HDD will be SATA, It's ok. I guess I will keep my HDD as the master, and just add a new SATA one as slave.

One thing I was thinking though, could I not just buy an external hard-drive? they aren't too expensive and it means I dont have to worry about connections and all that. Is this not recommended?

Another questions is, if a mobo says SATAII is it different to SATA?

Sorry if it I keep changing my ideas and bringing up more questions, I'm trying to unboggle my mind. Thanks for bearing with me so far

[philthomas]

You could buy an external drive, but IMO it's always better and neater to have an internal drive than an external, as USB is a flakey interface and not as reliable as ATA or SATA ..... also an external drive can be more prone to damage, especially if dropped ! and has extra circuitry and a seperate PSU, which are all prone to failure.

SATAII is the evolution of SATAI ...... If a mobo supports SATAII, it is capable of working slightly faster, but is also backward compatible with SATAI.

HTH

[Count Jackula]

Ok. I think this is my last question now.

How can I install my windows XP onto the new HDD?

And is it even possible without the cd? as I can't find it, but i will look harder if its not possible without it.

And say I did install windows onto the new HDD, should I remove windows from the old one or just leave it?

[philthomas]

You cant install XP onto the new HDD, without the Installation Disk.

If you slave the old HDD, you can pull any data off that you want to keep and then reformat it and use as you wish. There's no point keeping XP on it, but if it's slaved it wont make any difference either way.